Several Muslim countries across the globe have condemned a Danish far right group’s plan in Sweden to burn copies of the Quran. Unrest within the country intensified as 40 people were wounded following protests.

Engulfing the Muslim holy book into flames is a commonly practiced stunt by the anti-immigration and anti-Islam group Hard Line, led by Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan.

Protests erupted in the central Swedish city of Orebro on Friday 20th January 2022 as people flocked to the streets calling for an end to the insults towards Muslims. Additionally, Paludan also plans on visiting cities with large Muslim populations in aims of burning copies of the Quran during the month of Ramadan. Swedish local media even reported clashes in the country’s capital, Stockholm, after Paludan set the Quran on fire. 

According to Al Jazeera, 34 people were arrested following the pelting of stones by 150 protesters which were aimed at officers and even engulfed vehicles in flames.

Tasnim news agency stated that the Swedish right-wing leader Rasmus Paludan was granted permission from Sweden’s government to burn the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. He reportedly received protection from the police while performing this act. He went to an open public space in the Southern Swedish city of Linkoping and set the holy book on fire, ignoring the protests from onlookers.

Paludan, the son of a Swedish national, first bagged the limelight in 2017 when his anti-Muslim Youtube videos became famous, he later justified his acts in Denmark by burning the holy book and even wrapping it in bacon, as a gesture of free speech.  

He once infamously said in a 2018 video that “the enemy is Islam and Muslims. The best thing would be if there was not a single Muslim left on this Earth, then we would have reached our final goal.” 

This led to him being imprisoned for 14 days in 2019 on charges of racist speech in Denmark. A year later, he was imprisoned once again on account of being guilty on 14 different charges including racism, defamation and hazardous driving.

Sweden’s  own foreign minister, Tobias Billström, condemned hatred towards Muslims, but cited there were certain freedoms in his country.

Muslim countries united through their words expressing their disappointment, as they took a stand for the holy book that billions revere. Iraq’s foreign minister said on Sunday 23rd January 2023 that it summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in its capital, Baghdad. He further warned that the incident could have “serious repercussions” on “relations between Sweden and Muslims in general, Muslim and Arab countries, and Muslim communities in Europe”.

Turkey’s foreign ministry denounced “hesitation to prevent provocative and Islamophobic acts … under the cover of freedom of expression.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani also slammed the move as a brazen example of hate mongering and violence against Muslims. “The repetition of the desecration of the holy book of one and a half billion Muslims is a clear example of hate mongering and the spread of violence against all Muslims (around the world). Such actions have nothing to do with freedom of expression and opinion,” he said on Saturday, January 22, 2022.

Advisor to the UAE president, Anwar Gargash, rejected the hatred and intolerance against Islam in a tweet. 

Dr Anwar Gargash condemns the anti-Islam riots in Sweden as a 'wave of hatred and fanaticism' https://t.co/xN2qfsHtzc

— The National (@TheNationalNews) April 18, 2022

Egypt further “condemned the intentional abuse of the holy Quran”, adding it is “among the extreme right-wing practices that incite (hatred) against immigrants in general and Muslims in particular.”

Kuwait also  “expressed its utter condemnation and disgust towards the acts of desecration perpetrated by Swedish extremists against the holy Quran,” state news agency KUNA reported.

Fellow gulf country Jordan’s foreign affairs ministry added that the actions of ‘Hard Line’ “contradicts all religious values and principles, human rights principles and basic freedoms, and fuels feelings of hatred and violence and threatens peaceful coexistence”.

Thousands also gathered on the streets of Yemen to condemn the burning of the holy Quran in the city of Sa’ada, Press TV said. 

The open burning of the Quran adds to  the growing concern on the safety of Muslims worldwide, especially in Western countries. With France expressing discrimination within the government towards adherents of Islam, other countries seem to be following suit all in the name of free speech.